upper crust

First known use as an idiom: 1836.^[1]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌst

upper crust (plural upper crusts)

1. (idiomatic, usually with the) The social elite, the highest social class.

   Synonyms: upper class, the quality

   • 1894, Mark Twain, “A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget”, in Essays on Paul Bourget:

     I judged from your remark about the diligence and industry of the high Parisian upper crust that it would have some point.

   • 2006 June 18, J. F. O. McAllister, “A New Kind of Elite”, in Time:

     Some accents reveal the distinctive bray of the upper crust, but most are generic middle class.

   • 2023 August 10, Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil, “Urgent Care” (11:58 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 5, episode 6, spoken by John Slattery (John Slattery):

     “You ever see the movie Spotlight?” “About the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the sexual abuse coverup in the Catholic Church?” “Yeah, exactly.” “No.” “Oh. Well, in that I played Ben Bradlee, Jr. And that character begins with the accent, because the real Bradlee is from Boston. But he's an upper-crust guy. [Boston accent] Not like some jamoke standing around Kelly's Tavern in, uh, Revere Beach, you know what I mean?” “Very good, John Slattery.” “[regular accent] Not bad, right? But I was talking to him.”

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see upper,‎ crust. The topmost layer of a bread, pastry dish, or other item with a hardened coating.
   • 1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “chapter 20”, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

     She went to get her tarts . . . but some one had stolen all the fruit out of them by lifting up the upper crust.

• upper-crust
• upper-crusty

upper crust (comparative more upper crust, superlative most upper crust)

1. Alternative form of upper-crust.